Back in April -- which was Mathematics Awareness Month -- Wired magazine featured an interview with Cheryl Heuton. Together with husband Nick Falacci, she created CBS' Friday-night crime drama "Numb3rs," which stars David Krumholtz as Charlie Eppes, a mathematician who uses the wonder of numbers to help his FBI-agent brother, Don (Rob Morrow), solve crimes.

"One of the inspirations for this show," said Heuton to Wired, "was Bill Nye the Science Guy. He talks a lot about inspiring young people to study math and science. I used to be a journalist. I did a three-hour interview with him once and never forgot that."

Nye is a scientist and engineer (and former part-time comedian), whose "Bill Nye the Science Guy" show, which aired on PBS and in syndication, used humor and clever demonstrations to illustrate scientific principles.

Now he's returning the favor to Heuton and Falacci by appearing on "Numb3rs," in an episode called "Scorched," airing Friday, Dec. 16, at 10 p.m. ET.

While Don and his team track a serial arsonist, Charlie and his CalSci (the show's fictional version of CalTech) colleague Dr. Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol) turn to Professor Bill Waldie to recreate a backdraft in the university's combustion lab.

As a scientist, Nye is pretty happy about "Numb3rs."

"I'm thrilled," he says. "People in the scientific community have talked for a long time, 'Why don't we get on television? Why don't they show us scientists?'

"I don't want to put words in his mouth or speak for him, but Leon Lederman -- he won a Nobel Prize in physics, unlike a lot of us -- his thing was 'L.A. Science,' back when 'L.A. Law' was a big deal. 'Numb3rs' is that kind of show. I think it's the coolest thing in the world."